Gender bender

Is it possible to know the sex of my baby at six or seven weeks pregnant?

Boy or girl? How soon can you determine your baby’s gender?

No. You can determine the sex of the baby before implantation if you undergo in-vitro fertilization, but otherwise it cannot be determined at six or seven weeks.

You can determine the sex if chorionic villus sampling is performed at 10 weeks or amniocentesis at 16 weeks. However, sex selection is prohibited by the Assisted Human Reproduction Commission guidelines.

If you are waiting for an ultrasound to tell you the baby’s gender, it can generally be determined at a routine ultrasound between 18 and 22 weeks, if the baby cooperates.

Dr. Heather Shapiro, M.D., F.R.C.S.C. is a member of the Mount Sinai Hospital Fertility Centre in Toronto, as well as Director, Postgraduate Medical Education for the University of Toronto, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. She is an assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Toronto. She is currently the Chair of the Special Advisory Committee, Health Canada for Human Reproductive Therapies. Learn more at www.mountsinai.on.ca.